Methods and apparatuses for transmitting signal

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to a communication method and system for converging a 5th-Generation (5G) communication system for supporting higher data rates beyond a 4th-Generation (4G) system with a technology for Internet of Things (IoT). The present disclosure may be applied to intelligent services based on the 5G communication technology and the IoT-related technology, such as smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car, connected car, health care, digital education, smart retail, security and safety services.Embodiments of the present invention provide a method for transmitting a signal, comprising: selecting a starting position of the signal from a set of candidate starting positions for transmitting the signal; determining a symbol mapping of the signal based on a selected starting position or a set of candidate starting positions of the signal; and transmitting the signal is based on the symbol mapping. The embodiment of the invention also provides a corresponding apparatus.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a 371 of International Application No.PCT/KR2019/005354 filed on May 3, 2019, which claims priority to ChinesePatent Application No. 201810445914.7 filed on May 10, 2018, ChinesePatent Application No. 201810619318.6 filed on Jun. 15 2018, ChinesePatent Application No. 201811127798.0 filed on Sep. 26, 2018, andChinese Patent Application No. 201910236504.6 filed on Mar. 26, 2019,the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The present invention relates to the field of mobile communicationtechnologies, and in particular, to a method and apparatus fortransmitting signals.

2. Description of Related Art

To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased sincedeployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made todevelop an improved 5G or pre-5G communication system. Therefore, the 5Gor pre-5G communication system is also called a ‘Beyond 4G Network’ or a‘Post LTE System’. The 5G communication system is considered to beimplemented in higher frequency (mmWave) bands, e.g., 60 GHz bands, soas to accomplish higher data rates. To decrease propagation loss of theradio waves and increase the transmission distance, the beamforming,massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), Full Dimensional MIMO(FD-MIMO), array antenna, an analog beam forming, large scale antennatechniques are discussed in 5G communication systems. In addition, in 5Gcommunication systems, development for system network improvement isunder way based on advanced small cells, cloud Radio Access Networks(RANs), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communication,wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication,Coordinated Multi-Points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellationand the like. In the 5G system, Hybrid FSK and QAM Modulation (FQAM) andsliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as an advanced codingmodulation (ACM), and filter bank multi carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonalmultiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as anadvanced access technology have been developed.

The Internet, which is a human centered connectivity network wherehumans generate and consume information, is now evolving to the Internetof Things (IoT) where distributed entities, such as things, exchange andprocess information without human intervention. The Internet ofEverything (IoE), which is a combination of the IoT technology and theBig Data processing technology through connection with a cloud server,has emerged. As technology elements, such as “sensing technology”,“wired/wireless communication and network infrastructure”, “serviceinterface technology”, and “Security technology” have been demanded forIoT implementation, a sensor network, a Machine-to-Machine (M2M)communication, Machine Type Communication (MTC), and so forth have beenrecently researched. Such an IoT environment may provide intelligentInternet technology services that create a new value to human life bycollecting and analyzing data generated among connected things. IoT maybe applied to a variety of fields including smart home, smart building,smart city, smart car or connected cars, smart grid, health care, smartappliances and advanced medical services through convergence andcombination between existing Information Technology (IT) and variousindustrial applications.

In line with this, various attempts have been made to apply 5Gcommunication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such asa sensor network, Machine Type Communication (MTC), andMachine-to-Machine (M2M) communication may be implemented bybeamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud RadioAccess Network (RAN) as the above-described Big Data processingtechnology may also be considered to be as an example of convergencebetween the 5G technology and the IoT technology.

In order to meet the huge traffic demand, the 5G communication system isexpected to work from the low frequency band up to the high frequencyband about 100G, including licensed bands and unlicensed bands. Amongthem, 5 GHz band and 60 GHz band in the unlicensed band are mainlyconsidered. The 5G system working on the unlicensed band is referred toas the NR-U system, which may work independently on the unlicensedbands, may work on the licensed bands by means of a Dual Connectivity(DC), and also may work on the licensed band by means of CarrierAggregation (CA). In the 5 GHz band, the 802.11 series of WirelessFidelity (WiFi) systems, radars, and LTE's license assisted access (LAA)systems have been deployed, all following the Listen Before Talk (LBT)mechanism. That is, the wireless channel must be detected beforetransmitting the signal, and the wireless channel can be occupied fortransmitting the signal only when the wireless channel is detected to beidle. In the 60 GHz band, 802.11ay systems already exist, which shallalso follow the LBT mechanism. In other unlicensed bands, an effectivecoexistence method shall be established according to the correspondingspecifications.

In the existing systems, there are two ways to support the UE to performuplink transmission. One is based on real-time scheduling of basestations, which is referred to as Scheduled based UL Grant (SUL). Beforetransmitting the signal, the UE needs to receive a UL grant sent by thebase station, and the UL grant includes information such as atime-frequency resource on which the UE transmits the PUSCH. The UEtransmits the PUSCH on the resources indicated by the UL grant. On theunlicensed band, the base station needs to perform LBT beforetransmitting the UL grant, and the UE needs to perform LBT before theuplink subframe indicated by the UL grant. The PUSCH scheduled by the ULgrant can only be transmitted if both LBTs succeed. Another way is thatwe call it a GUL (UL transmission with configured grant). The basestation semi-statically configures time-frequency resources. When the UEhas data to transmit, it does not need base station's scheduling. The UEcan try to transmit on these resources. If there is no data, there is notransmission. On the unlicensed band, the UE needs to perform LBT beforeuplink transmission, and it can transmit PUSCH on the configuredresources if the LBT succeeds. In the PUSCH scheduled according to theGUL, the UE may transmit both uplink data and uplink control information(UCI), for example, a symbol for indicating start and end of the PUSCH,HARQ information (such as NDI, RV, HARQ ID, etc.), and UE's identityinformation (UE ID), etc. In a 5G system, transmission on an unlicensedband can take both types of uplink transmissions into account.

In some cases, for example, when the base station expects to receivePUSCHs of multiple UEs at the same time, the base station may allocatedifferent frequency domain resources to the UEs. However, at least thestarting points of the time domain resources are the same. The UEs thathave completed the LBT can start transmitting at the same time to avoidthe influence of the UE having an earlier stating point of the timedomain resource on the UE having a later starting point of the timedomain resource. In other scenarios, for example, when the base stationexpects to receive only one UE's PUSCH at a time, the base station mayallocate a set of possible starting pints of time domain resources formultiple UEs, and these UEs may randomly select a starting point fromthe set of starting points. The UE that has completed the LBT and has anearlier stating point of the time domain resource can transmit, and theother UEs may abandon the transmission due to fail of the LBT.Alternatively, in some cases, the base station allows the UE to havemore than one possible starting point in one subframe in order toincrease the chance that the UE can successfully transmit. If the LBTsucceeds before a certain starting point, the UE may start transmittingthe PUSCH at this starting point. When the possible starting point ismore than one, if the position of the reference signal or UCI is afterthe starting point of the actual transmission, the receiving party maynot be able to perform channel estimation, not able to receive UCI, oreven not able to receive PUSCH according to UCI, thereby performance isdegraded.

Therefore, there is a need for a solution that can determine thestarting point for transmitting signals (e.g., reference signals andUCI) to at least partially solve the above problems.

SUMMARY

According to a first aspect of the disclosure, a method for transmittinga signal is provided, comprising: determining a symbol mapping of thesignal based on a selected starting position or a set of candidatestarting positions of the signal; and transmitting the signal is basedon the symbol mapping.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises selecting the startingposition of the signal, for example, from the set of candidate startingpositions.

In some embodiments, the signal comprises a Physical Uplink SharedControl Channel (PUSCH) or a Physical Downlink Shared Control Channel(PDSCH) which carries a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), andwherein determining a symbol mapping of the signal based on a selectedstarting position or a set of candidate starting positions of the signalcomprises: determining that a starting position of the DMRS is locatedat a starting boundary of an OFDM symbol if a candidate startingposition that is the last in the set of candidate starting positions islocated at the starting boundary of the OFDM symbol; and determiningthat a starting position of the DMRS is located at a starting boundaryof a first OFDM symbol after the OFDM symbol if a candidate startingposition that is the last in the set of candidate starting positions isnot located at the starting boundary of the OFDM symbol.

In some embodiments, the DMRS comprises a plurality of groups of DMRSs,and a starting position of the DMRS is a starting position of a firstgroup of DMRSs that are the earliest in the plurality of groups ofDMRSs, and wherein the method further comprises: determining positionsof other groups of DMRSs in the plurality of groups of DMRSs withreference to the starting position of the first set of DMRSs based on anoffset between positions of the plurality of groups of DMRSs.

In some embodiments, the signal comprises a Physical Uplink SharedControl Channel (PUSCH) or a Physical Downlink Shared Control Channel(PDSCH) which carries a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), andwherein determining a symbol mapping of the signal based on a selectedstarting position or a set of candidate starting positions of the signalcomprises: positioning the DMRS within a first complete OFDM symbolafter the selected starting position of the PUSCH, and wherein thestarting position of the DMRS is located after an OFDM symbol in which aListen Before Talk (LTB) detection succeeds.

In some embodiments, the signal comprises a Physical Uplink SharedControl Channel (PUSCH) or a Physical Downlink Shared Control Channel(PDSCH) which carries control information (such as Uplink ControlInformation (UCI) or Downlink Control Information (DCI)), and whereindetermining a symbol mapping of the signal based on a selected startingposition or a set of candidate starting positions of the signalcomprises: determining that a starting position of the controlinformation is not earlier than a starting boundary of an OFDM symbol ifa candidate starting position that is the last in the set of candidatestarting positions is located at the starting boundary of the OFDMsymbol; and determining that the starting position of the controlinformation is not earlier than a starting boundary of a first OFDMsymbol after the OFDM symbol if the candidate starting position that isthe last in the set of candidate starting positions is not located atthe starting boundary of the OFDM symbol.

In some embodiments, if the OFDM symbol including the starting positionof the control information is occupied by a Demodulation ReferenceSignal (DMRS), the starting position of the control information isdetermined to be at a starting boundary of a first OFDM symbol that doesnot include the DMRS after the OFDM symbol that is occupied by the DMRS.

In some embodiments, if a subcarrier where the OFDM symbol including thestarting position of the control information is located is occupied by aDemodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), the starting position of thecontrol information is determined to avoid the subcarrier occupied bythe DMRS.

In some embodiments, if the DMRS comprises a plurality of groups ofDMRSs, the starting position of the control information is determined tobe at a starting position of a first OFDM symbol that does not includethe DMRS after an OFDM symbol that is occupied by a first group of DMRSsin the plurality of groups of DMRSs.

In some embodiments, determining a symbol mapping of the signal based ona selected starting position or a set of candidate starting positions ofthe signal comprises: determining a starting position of the DMRS and/orcontrol information carried in the signal based on a subcarrier spacingand/or a cyclic prefix used to transmit the signal.

In some embodiments, the signal comprises a Physical Uplink SharedControl Channel (PUSCH) or a Physical Downlink Shared Control Channel(PDSCH), and the method comprises: mapping the PUSCH to a scheduledslot; and dropping a portion of the PUSCH that is not mapped to thescheduled slot if the length of the PUSCH exceeds the number of symbolsremaining in the scheduled slot.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a method fortransmitting a signal is provided, comprising: performing a ListenBefore Talk (LBT) detection on each of a plurality of subbands fortransmitting the signal, respectively; and mapping bits on a PhysicalUplink Shared Control Channel (PUSCH) and a Physical Downlink SharedControl Channel (PDSCH) corresponding to subbands on which the LBTdetection is successfully performed to the subbands on which the LBTdetection is successfully performed.

In some embodiments, bits of one coding block are mapped in one subband,or bits of one coding block group are mapped in one subband.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: indicating to areceiving party the subband for transmitting the signal.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a method fortransmitting a signal is provided, comprising: determining a redundancyversion of respective PUSCHs of the same transmitted transport blockaccording to configured or predefined redundancy version information,wherein the redundancy version of the last PUSCH of the same transportblock is a self-decodable redundancy version.

In some embodiments, the self-decodable redundancy version number iszero.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a apparatus fortransmitting a signal is provided, comprising: a symbol mappingdetermining module configured to determine a symbol mapping of thesignal based on a selected starting position or a set of candidatestarting positions of the signal; and a transmitting module configuredto transmit the signal based on the symbol mapping.

The apparatus may further comprise a position selecting moduleconfigured to selecting the starting position of the signal, forexample, from set of candidate starting positions.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a apparatus fortransmitting a signal is provided, comprising: an LBT detecting moduleconfigured to perform a Listen Before Talk (LBT) detection on each of aplurality of subbands for transmitting the signal, respectively; and abit mapping module is configured to map bits on a Physical Uplink SharedControl Channel (PUSCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Control Channel(PDSCH) corresponding to subbands on which the LBT detection issuccessfully performed to the subbands on which the LBT detection issuccessfully performed.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, an apparatus fortransmitting a signal is provided, comprising: a processor; and a memoryconfigured to store machine readable instructions that, when executed bythe processor, cause the processor to perform any of the methodsdescribed above.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, a computerreadable storage medium having stored thereon executable instructionsthat, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform anyof the methods described above.

According to a technical solution of an embodiment of the presentinvention, a symbol mapping of a signal (e.g., a reference signal and aUCI) carried in a signal (e.g., PUSCH) is determined based on a selectedstarting position or a set of candidate starting positions of thesignal. Thereby, signals such as reference signals and UCI can beappropriately received at the receiving party to achieve good receptionperformance.

To solve at least some of the above problems, embodiments of the presentdisclosure propose a method and an apparatus for inter-frame encodingand decoding as described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other features of the present disclosure will becomemore apparent from the following detailed description of the presentdisclosure taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram of a method fortransmitting a signal in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary flow diagram of another method fortransmitting a signal in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary block diagram of an apparatus for transmittinga signal in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary block diagram of another apparatus fortransmitting signals in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a symbol mapping in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a symbol mapping in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a symbol mapping in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a symbol mapping in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a symbol mapping in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a symbol mapping in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a symbol mapping in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 shows an example of a symbol mapping in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 shows an example of a symbol mapping in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 shows an exemplary flow diagram of a method for receiving asignal in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of an apparatus forreceiving signals in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 16 is a schematic block diagram showing an apparatus in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar structures are denoted bythe same or similar reference numerals.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

To make the purposes, technical solutions and advantages of theapplication more apparent, it will now be described in detail withreference to the accompanying drawings. It should be appreciated thatthe following descriptions are for illustrative purposes only and arenot intended to limit the present disclosure. A number of specificdetails are described in the following description to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present disclosure. However, it is obvious forthose skilled in the art that the present disclosure can be implementedwithout these specific details. In other instances, a detaileddescription of the known circuits, materials, or methods are omitted toavoid obscuring the subject matter of the present disclosure.

Throughout the description, the reference to “an embodiment”,“embodiments”, “an example” or “examples” means that the specificfeatures, structures or characteristics described in relative to theembodiment(s) or example(s) are included in at least one of theembodiments disclosed in the description. Therefore, the phrases “in anembodiment”, “in embodiments”, “an example” or “examples” appearedthroughout the description do not necessarily refer to the sameembodiment(s) or example(s). In addition, specific features, structuresor characteristics may be combined in one or more embodiments orexamples in any appropriate combination and/or subcombination. Inaddition, those skilled in the art should understand that the drawingsprovided here are for illustrative purposes and are not necessarilydrawn in scale. The term “and/or” used here includes any and allcombinations of one or more pertinent listed items.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram of a method fortransmitting a signal in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 1, the method includes an optional operationS110 of selecting a starting position of the signal.

The signal may include, for example, a PUSCH, a PDSCH, or the like. Thestarting position of the resource may be selected by any feasible means,such as may be randomly selected, based on any predetermined rule, etc.,and embodiments of the present invention are not limited by the specificselection rules. The starting position may be selected, for example,from the set of candidate starting positions, or may be selected by anyother means, such as specified by a protocol or specification.

The method may comprise an operation S120 of determining a symbolmapping of the signal based on the selected starting position or the setof candidate starting positions of the signal.

In some embodiments, the signal may comprise a Physical Uplink SharedControl Channel (PUSCH) or a Physical Downlink Shared Control Channel(PDSCH), which may carry a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS). In thiscase, determining the symbol mapping of the signal based on the selectedstarting position or the set of candidate starting positions of thesignal may include: determining that a starting position of the DMRS islocated at a starting boundary of an OFDM symbol if a candidate startingposition that is the last in the set of candidate starting positions islocated at the starting boundary of the OFDM symbol; and determiningthat a starting position of the DMRS is located at a starting boundaryof a first OFDM symbol after the OFDM symbol if a candidate startingposition that is the last in the set of candidate starting positions isnot located at the starting boundary of the OFDM symbol.

In some examples, the DMRS may comprise a plurality of groups of DMRSs,and a starting position of the DMRS is a starting position of a firstgroup of DMRSs that are the earliest in the plurality of groups ofDMRSs. In this case, the method shown in FIG. 1 may further comprise:determining positions of other groups of DMRSs in the plurality ofgroups of DMRSs with reference to the starting position of the first setof DMRSs based on an offset between positions of the plurality of groupsof DMRSs.

In some embodiments, the signal comprises a PUSCH or a PDSCH whichcarries a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), and the determining asymbol mapping of the signal based on a selected starting position or aset of candidate starting positions of the signal may comprise:positioning the DMRS within a first complete OFDM symbol after theselected starting position of the PUSCH, and wherein the startingposition of the DMRS is located after an OFDM symbol in which a ListenBefore Talk (LTB) detection succeeds.

In some embodiments, the signal may comprise a PUSCH or a PDSCH whichmay carry control information (e.g., UCI or DCI), and the determining asymbol mapping of the signal based on a selected starting position or aset of candidate starting positions of the signal may comprise:determining that a starting position of the control information is notearlier than a starting boundary of an OFDM symbol if a candidatestarting position that is the last in the set of candidate startingpositions is located at the starting boundary of the OFDM symbol; anddetermining that the starting position of the control information is notearlier than a starting boundary of a first OFDM symbol after the OFDMsymbol if the candidate starting position that is the last in the set ofcandidate starting positions is not located at the starting boundary ofthe OFDM symbol.

In some examples, if the OFDM symbol including a starting position ofthe control information is occupied by a Demodulation Reference Signal(DMRS), the starting position of the control information is determinedto be at a starting boundary of a first OFDM symbol that does notinclude the DMRS after the OFDM symbol that is occupied by the DMRS.

In some examples, if a subcarrier where the OFDM symbol including thestarting position of the control information is located is occupied by aDemodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), the starting position of thecontrol information is determined to avoid the subcarrier occupied bythe DMRS.

In some examples, if the DMRS comprises a plurality of groups of DMRSs,the starting position of the control information is determined to be ata starting position of a first OFDM symbol that does not include theDMRS after an OFDM symbol that is occupied by a first group of DMRSs inthe plurality of groups of DMRSs.

In some examples, the determining a symbol mapping of the signal basedon a selected starting position or a set of candidate starting positionsof the signal may comprise: determining a starting position of the DMRSand/or control information carried in the signal based on a subcarrierspacing and/or a cyclic prefix used to transmit the signal.

In some embodiments, the signal may comprise a PUSCH or a PDSCH, and themethod illustrated in FIG. 1 may further comprise mapping the PUSCH to ascheduled slot; and dropping a portion of the PUSCH that is not mappedto the scheduled slot if the length of the PUSCH exceeds the number ofsymbols remaining in the scheduled slot.

The method may comprise an operation S130 of transmitting the signalbased on the symbol mapping.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary flow diagram of another method fortransmitting a signal in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. In this method, the bandwidth (e.g., system bandwidth) thatcan be used to transmit a signal is divided into a plurality ofsubbands. As shown in FIG. 2, the method comprises an operation S210 ofperforming a Listen Before Talk (LBT) detection on each of the pluralityof subbands for transmitting the signal.

The method may comprise an operation S220 of mapping bits on a PhysicalUplink Shared Control Channel (PUSCH) and a Physical Downlink SharedControl Channel (PDSCH) corresponding to subbands on which the LBTdetection is successfully performed to the subbands on which the LBTdetection is successfully performed.

In some embodiments, bits of one coding block are mapped in one subband,or bits of one coding block group are mapped in one subband.

In some embodiments, the method illustrated in FIG. 2 may furthercomprise indicating to a receiving party the subband for transmittingthe signal.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary block diagram of an apparatus for transmittinga signal in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Asshown in FIG. 3, the apparatus includes a symbol mapping determiningmodule 320 and a transmitting module 330. The symbol mapping determiningmodule 320 is configured to determine a symbol mapping of the signalbased on a selected starting position or a set of candidate startingpositions of the signal. The transmitting module 330 is configured totransmit the signal based on the symbol mapping.

The apparatus may also include a position selecting module 310configured to select a starting position of the signal. The startingposition may be selected, for example, from the set of candidatestarting positions, or may be selected by any other means, such asspecified by a protocol or specification.

In some embodiments, the signal may comprise a PUSCH or a PDSCH whichmay carry a DMRS. In this case, the symbol mapping determining module320 may be configured to determine that a starting position of the DMRSis located at a starting boundary of an OFDM symbol if a candidatestarting position that is the last in the set of candidate startingpositions is located at the starting boundary of the OFDM symbol; anddetermine that a starting position of the DMRS is located at a startingboundary of a first OFDM symbol after the OFDM symbol if a candidatestarting position that is the last in the set of candidate startingpositions is not located at the starting boundary of the OFDM symbol.

In some examples, the DMRS comprises a plurality of groups of DMRSs, anda starting position of the DMRS is a starting position of a first groupof DMRSs that are the earliest in the plurality of groups of DMRSs. Inthis case, the symbol mapping determining module 320 may be furtherconfigured to determine positions of other groups of DMRSs in theplurality of groups of DMRSs with reference to the starting position ofthe first set of DMRSs based on an offset between positions of theplurality of groups of DMRSs.

In some examples, the starting position of the DMRS may be located afteran OFDM symbol for which a LBT detection succeeds.

In some embodiments, the signal may comprise a PUSCH or a PDSCH whichmay carry a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), and the symbol mappingdetermining module 320 may be further configured to: position the DMRSwithin a first complete OFDM symbol after the selected starting positionof the PUSCH, and wherein the starting position of the DMRS is locatedafter an OFDM symbol in which a Listen Before Talk (LTB) detectionsucceeds.

In some embodiments, the signal may comprise a PUSCH or a PDSCH whichmay carry control information, and the symbol mapping determining module320 may be configured to: determine that a starting position of thecontrol information is not earlier than a starting boundary of an OFDMsymbol if a candidate starting position that is the last in the set ofcandidate starting positions is located at the starting boundary of theOFDM symbol; and determine that the starting position of the controlinformation is not earlier than a starting boundary of a first OFDMsymbol after the OFDM symbol if the candidate starting position that isthe last in the set of candidate starting positions is not located atthe starting boundary of the OFDM symbol.

In some examples, if the OFDM symbol including the starting position ofthe control information is occupied by a Demodulation Reference Signal(DMRS), the starting position of the control information is determinedto be at a starting boundary of a first OFDM symbol that does notinclude the DMRS after the OFDM symbol that is occupied by the DMRS.

In some examples, if a subcarrier where the OFDM symbol including thestarting position of the control information is located is occupied by aDemodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), the starting position of thecontrol information is determined to avoid the subcarrier occupied bythe DMRS.

In some examples, if the DMRS comprises a plurality of groups of DMRSs,the starting position of the control information is determined to be ata starting position of a first OFDM symbol that does not include theDMRS after an OFDM symbol that is occupied by a first group of DMRSs inthe plurality of groups of DMRSs.

In some examples, the symbol mapping determining module 320 may beconfigured to determine a starting position of the DMRS and/or controlinformation carried in the signal based on a subcarrier spacing and/or acyclic prefix used to transmit the signal.

In some embodiments, the signal may comprise a PUSCH or PDSCH, and thesymbol mapping determining module 320 may be further configured to mapthe PUSCH to a scheduled slot; and drop a portion of the PUSCH that isnot mapped to the scheduled slot if the length of the PUSCH exceeds thenumber of symbols remaining in the scheduled slot.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary block diagram of another apparatus fortransmitting a signal in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. In the solution shown in FIG. 4, the bandwidth that can beused to transmit the signal is divided into a plurality of subbands. Asshown in FIG. 4, the apparatus may comprise an LBT detecting module 410and a bit mapping module 420. The LBT detecting module 410 is configuredto perform a Listen Before Talk (LBT) detection on each of a pluralityof subbands for transmitting the signal, respectively. The bit mappingmodule 420 is configured to map bits on a Physical Uplink Shared ControlChannel (PUSCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Control Channel (PDSCH)corresponding to subbands on which the LBT detection is successfullyperformed to the subbands on which the LBT detection is successfullyperformed.

In some embodiments, bits of one coding block may only be mapped in onesubband, or bits of one coding block group may only be mapped in onesubband.

In some embodiments, the apparatus shown in FIG. 4 may further comprisea transmitting module 430 configured to indicate to a receiving partythe subband for transmitting the signal.

The technical solutions shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 are explained below basedon specific implementation examples. It should be noted that althoughthe following example illustrates the technical solution of theembodiment of the present invention mainly based on the uplink (forexample, PUSCH and UCI), the solution is also applicable to the downlink(for example, PDSCH and DCI). Further, unless the plurality of groups ofDMRSs are included in the examples, the term “first group of DMRSs” inthe following examples may also refer to one group of DMRSs in the casethat there is only that one group of DMRSs.

Embodiment 1

In some scenarios, a transmitting node A may be unaware of a startingpoint of a transmitted signal before transmitting the signal because forexample, the starting point of the transmission depends on the result ofthe LBT. The receiving node B may also be unable to determine thestarting point of the signal when receiving the signal transmitted bythe transmitting node A. For example, the starting point of transmissionmay be randomly selected from a set of transmission starting points ordetermined according to the LBT result of the transmitting party. Inorder for the receiving node B to be able to demodulate the signalwithout knowing the starting point of the signal, the position of thereference signal in the transmitted signal is required to be relativelyfixed. Alternatively, the position of the reference signal is not fixed,but the position of the reference signal belongs to a predefined set ofpossible positions, and the base station can receive the referencesignal by performing a blind detection in this set. If the receivingnode B needs to demodulate the transmitted signal according to the UCIin the transmitted signal, the position of the UCI is also required tobe relatively fixed. Moreover, if the transmitting node A can transmitthe reference signal and/or the UCI as completely as possible at anypossible starting position, it also helps the receiving node B tocorrectly demodulate the transmitted signal.

In addition, for transmissions where the transmission starting point isdefinite and the transmission starting point is uncertain, differentreference signal processing methods can be used to improve thetransmission efficiency of the reference signal.

The position of the reference signal in the transmitted signal may bedetermined according to at least one of the following manners:

(1) The starting point of the first group of DMRSs is determined basedon the last starting position P_(start) in the set of possible startingposition positions.

In the description herein, the possible starting positions are alsoreferred to as candidate starting positions, both of which are usedinterchangeably.

If P_(start) is not located at the starting boundary of an OFDM symbol,for example, within the OFDM symbol, assuming that the index of the OFDMsymbol in which P_(start) is located is O_(p_start), the starting pointof the first group of DMRSs is at the starting boundary of the symbolO_(p_start+1).

If P_(start) is located at the starting boundary of the OFDM symbol,assuming that the index of the OFDM symbol in which Pstart is located isO_(p_start), the starting point of the first group of DMRSs is at thestarting boundary of the symbol O_(p_start).

Preferably, the first group of DMRSs are those that are earliest in thePUSCH or the PUCCH. The first group of DMRSs may occupy 1 symbol, 2symbols, or any other number of symbols.

Preferably, if the base station configures only one group of DMRSs forthe UE, the position of the group of DMRSs is determined according toP_(start). If a plurality of groups of DMRSs are configured, they may bedetermined according to existing methods or other methods.

Preferably, if the mapping manner of the DMRS configured by the basestation is mode A (type A DMRS), the first group of DMRSs fixedly startsfrom the configured symbol, for example, the third or fourth symbol. Ifthe mapping mode of the DMRS configured by the base station is mode B(type B DMRS), the starting position of the first group of DMRSs isdetermined according to P_(start). In the prior art, type B DMRSindicates that the first group of DMRSs is located at the first symbolthat actually transmits the PUSCH.

Preferably, if the base station configures a plurality of groups ofDMRSs for the UE, the position of the first group of DMRSs is determinedaccording to P_(start), and positions of other groups of DMRSs aredetermined with reference to the position of the first set of DMRSsbased on a predefined offset. For example, assume that the base stationconfigures two groups of DMRSs for the UE, each group of DMRSs includesone symbol, and the interval between the two groups of DMRSs is 4symbols. For example, the first group of DMRSs is located at symbol #1,and the second group of DMRSs is located at #5.

Preferably, when the mapping mode of the DMRS configured by the basestation is mode B, and the base station configures a plurality of groupsof DMRSs for the UE, the symbol positions of the plurality of groups ofDMRSs may be determined according to the method described above.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a symbol mapping in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, assume that theset S_(p) of possible starting points of the PUSCH is {0 us, 16 us, 25us, 34 us, 43 us, 52 us, 61 us, 70 us}. Assume that the subcarrierspacing (SCS) is 30 kHz, the locations of respective starting points inthe set S_(p) are {the starting boundary of #O₀, within #O₀, within #O₀,the starting boundary of #O₁, within #O₁, within #O₁, within #O₁, thestarting boundary of #O₂}, where #O₁ represents OFDM symbol #i.P_(start)=70 us=the starting boundary of #O₂. Before transmitting thePUSCH, the UE randomly selects a starting point from the set S_(p), forexample, 25 us, that is, within #O₀. Assuming that the first group ofDMRSs configured by the base station for the UE includes 2 symbols, thefirst symbol of the first group of DMRSs is determined according toP_(start), that is, symbol #O₂, and the second symbol is symbol #O₃. ThePUSCH starts mapping from the position at 25 us.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a symbol mapping in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, assume that theset S_(p) of possible starting positions of the PUSCH is {0 us, 16 us,25 us, 34 us, 43 us, 52 us, 61 us, 70 us}. Assume that SCS is 30 KHz,the symbols where the locations of respective starting points in the setS_(p) are {the starting boundary of #O₀, within #O₀, within #O₀, thestarting boundary of #O₁, within #O₁, within #O₁, within #O₁, thestarting boundary of #O₂}, where #O₁ represents OFDM symbol #i. Beforetransmitting the PUSCH, the UE randomly selects a starting point fromthe set S_(p), for example, 43 us, that is, within #O₁. Assume that thebase station configures three groups of DRMS for the UE, each group ofDMRSs includes 1 symbol, and each group of DMRSs is separated by 3symbols. Then, the symbol of the first group of DMRSs is symbol #O₂, thesymbol of the second group of DMRSs is symbol #O₅, and the symbol of thethird group of DMRSs is symbol #O₈.

(2) The first group of DMRSs is located within the first complete OFDMsymbol.

For example, the set S_(p) of possible starting positions of the PUSCHis {the starting boundary of #O₀, within #O₀, within #O₀, the startingboundary of #O₁, within #O₁, within #O₁, within #O₁, the startingboundary of #O₂}. Assume that the starting point of the PUSCH actuallytransmitted is at 43 us, that is, within #O₁. Then, the first group ofDMRSs is located at symbol #O₂. For another example, if the startingpoint of the PUSCH actually transmitted is at 34 us, that is, thestarting boundary of #O₁, the first group of DMRSs is located at symbol#O₁.

Thus, the base station can detect the DMRS in symbols that may includethe DMRS.

When the starting point of the transmitted signal is definite, forexample, the base station instructs the UE to start transmitting thePUSCH at a certain time, it may also be defined that the first group ofDMRSs is located within the first complete OFDM symbol.

Preferably, if the mapping mode of the DMRS configured by the basestation is mode A, the first group of DMRSs fixedly starts from theconfigured symbol, for example, the third or fourth symbol. If themapping mode of the DMRS configured by the base station is mode B, thefirst group of DMRSs is located within the first complete OFDM symbol.

Preferably, in the case that the mapping mode of the DMRS configured bythe base station is mode B, if the base station configures a pluralityof groups of DMRSs for the UE, but the position of the DMRS goes beyondthe slot boundary, the DMRS is not sent. FIG. 7 shows an example of asymbol mapping in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 7, the UE may start transmitting the PUSCHat symbol #1 or symbol #7 according to the result of the LBT. The basestation configures typeB DMRS, and configures 2 groups of DMRSs, and theinterval between the two groups of DMRSs is 8 symbols. The UE does notsuccessfully complete the LBT before symbol #1, and completes the LBTbefore symbol #7. Then the UE starts transmitting the PUSCH at symbol#7, where symbol #7 includes the first group of DMRSs. Since the secondgroup of DMRSs is located at symbol #15, i.e., the second symbol of thenext slot, the second group of DMRSs is not transmitted.

Preferably, if the base station configures a plurality of groups ofDMRSs for the UE, the position of the first group of DMRS positions isdetermined according to the actual starting point of the PUSCH, and thepositions of the other groups of DMRSs other than the first group ofDMRSs are determined according to the starting point and length of thePUSCH indicated by the base station. For example, the base stationindicates that the starting point of the PUSCH that the UE is expectedto transmit is at symbol #1, the length of the PUSCH is 10 symbols, andconfigures two groups of DMRSs for the UE, and the second group of DMRSsare at symbol #8 in the PUSCH that is expected to be transmitted, thatis, Symbol #9 in the slot. If the starting point of the PUSCH actuallytransmitted by the UE after completing the LBT is at symbol #2, and theactual length of the PUSCH is 9 symbols, the UE still determines theposition of the second group of DMRSs according to the 10 symbols andthe starting boundary of symbol #1, that is, Symbol #9 in the slot. Ifthe first group of DMRSs overlap with other groups of DMRSs, theoverlapped other groups of DMRSs are dropped and the first group ofDMRSs are transmitted. For example, the base station indicates that thestarting point of the PUSCH that the UE is expected to transmit is atsymbol #1, the length of the PUSCH is 8 symbols, configures two groupsof DMRSs for the UE, and the second group of DMRSs are at symbol #6 inthe PUSCH that is expected to be transmitted, that is, Symbol #7 in theslot. The UE may start transmitting the PUSCH at symbol #1 or symbol #7according to the result of the LBT. The UE does not successfullycomplete the LBT before symbol #1, and completes the LBT before symbol#7, then transmits the PUSCH starting from symbol #7, where symbol #7includes the first group of DMRSs. Therefore, the first group of DMRSscompletely overlaps with the second group of DMRSs, and the UE transmitsonly the first group of DMRSs.

Preferably, the method described above is also applicable to thedownlink transmission.

The mapping position of the UCI in the transmitted signal can bedetermined according to at least one of the followings:

(3) The starting point of the UCI is not earlier than a symbol where thelast starting position P_(start) of the set of candidate startingpositions S_(p) is located.

If P_(start) is not located at the starting boundary of an OFDM symbol,assuming that the index of the OFDM symbol where P_(start) is located isO_(p_start), the starting point of the UCI is not earlier than thestarting boundary of symbol O_(p_start+1). Preferably, the startingpoint of the UCI is the starting boundary of the symbol O_(p_start+1).Preferably, if symbol O_(p_start+1) does not include the DMRS, thestarting point of the UCI is at the starting boundary of the symbolO_(p_start+1), otherwise the starting point of the UCI is at thestarting boundary of the first symbol that does not include the DMRSafter the DMRS symbol (ie, symbol O_(p_start+1)). For example, if thefirst group of DMRSs are located at symbol O_(p_start+1) and symbolO_(p_start+2), the mapping starting point of the UCI is at the symbolO_(p_start+3.)

If P_(start) is located at the starting boundary of the OFDM symbol,assuming that the index of the OFDM symbol where P_(start) is located isO_(p_start), the starting point of the UCI is not earlier than thestarting boundary of symbol #O_(p_start). Preferably, the starting pointof the UCI is at the starting boundary of symbol O_(p_start).

Preferably, if symbol O_(p_start) does not include a DMRS, the startingpoint of the UCI is at the starting boundary of symbol O_(p_start),otherwise the starting point of the UCI is at the starting boundary ofthe first symbol that does not include the DMRS after the DMRS symbol(i.e., O_(p_start)).

Preferably, the UCI shall avoid symbols including a DMRS.

Preferably, the UCI shall avoid subcarriers including a DMRS. Forexample, the UCI may be mapped to a symbol including a DMRS, but may notbe mapped to a subcarrier in the symbol on which the DMRS is located.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a symbol mapping in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 8, assume that thebase station configures type A DMRS, and two groups of DMRSs, the twogroups of DMRSs being located at symbol #O₃ and symbol #O₉. Thelocations of respective starting points in the set S_(p) are {thestarting boundary of #O₀, within #O₀, within #O₀, the starting boundaryof #O₁, within #1, within #O₁, within #O₁, the starting boundary of#O₂}. Before transmitting the PUSCH, the UE randomly selects a startingpoint from the set Sp, 25 us, that is, within #O₀. The last startingpoint P_(start) in the set S_(p) of candidate starting positions is thestarting boundary of #O₂. The UCI is mapped from the first symbol thatdoes not include the DMRS after the starting boundary of symbol #O₂,that is, mapped from #O₂, avoiding symbol #O₃ and symbol #O₉.

(4) The starting point of the UCI is not earlier than the first symbolof the first group of DMRSs.

Preferably, the position of the first group of DMRSs may be determinedaccording to the manner of (1) or (2).

FIG. 9 shows an example of a symbol mapping in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 9, assume that thebase station configures type A DMRS and one group of DMRSs. The actualstarting position of the PUSCH is at 25 us, and the first group of DMRSsis located in the first complete symbol of the PUSCH, that is, symbol#O₁. Then, UCI starts mapping from symbol #O₂.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a symbol mapping in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 10, assume thatthe base station configures type B DMRS and two groups of DMRSs, and thetwo groups of DMRSs are separated by 4 symbols. The symbols where thelocations of respective starting points in the set S_(p) are {thestarting boundary of #O₀, within #O₀, within #O₀, the starting boundaryof #O₁, within #O₁, within #O₁, within #O₁, the starting boundary of#O₂}. Before transmitting the PUSCH, the UE randomly selects a startingpoint, 43 us, that is, within #O₁, from the set S_(p). Then, the firstgroup of DMRSs is located at symbol #O₂ and symbol #O₆, and the UCI ismapped from the first symbol after the end of the first group of DMRSs,that is, mapped from symbol #O₃, avoiding symbol #O₆.

Preferably, the UCI may be a UCI including HARQ-ACK and/or CSI.Preferably, the UCI may be a UCI including PUSCH demodulationinformation (e.g., actual starting and ending positions of the PUSCH,HARQ information of the PUSCH, UE ID, etc.).

Preferably, if the UCI includes both HARQ-ACK and/or CSI information andPUSCH demodulation information, the two types of UCI information areself-encoded. Preferably, if the UCI includes both HARQ-ACK and/or CSIinformation and PUSCH demodulation information, the base station mayseparately configure offset for determining the number of time-frequencyresources occupied by the UCIs for different types of UCI information.

Preferably, if the UCI includes both HARQ-ACK and/or CSI information andPUSCH demodulation information, the HARQ-ACK and/or CSI information andthe PUSCH demodulation information are respectively mapped to physicalresources. For example, the HARQ-ACK information is mapped to a firstsymbol that is not occupied by the DMRS after the first DMRS, and theCSI information is mapped to the first complete symbol not occupied bythe DMRS and avoids the resources that may be occupied by HARQ-ACK. ThePUSCH demodulation information is mapped to the first complete symbolthat is not occupied by the DMRS and avoids resources that may beoccupied by the HARQ-ACK and the CSI information. For another example,the PUSCH demodulation information is mapped to a first symbol that isnot occupied by the DMRS after the first DMRS, and the HARQ-ACKinformation is mapped to the first complete symbol that is not occupiedby the DMRS and avoids the resources that may be occupied by the PUSCHdemodulates information. The CSI information is mapped to the firstcomplete symbol that is not occupied by the DMRS and avoids resourcesthat may be occupied by the PUSCH demodulation information and theHARQ-ACK information. Preferably, the UCI is mapped so that it spreadsas evenly as possible over the entire band resource occupied by thePUSCH. For example, the UCI information can be equally mapped onto aportion of the subcarriers within a symbol according to a predefinedpattern or rule.

Preferably, the UCI mapping resource position including the PUSCHdemodulation information does not depend on the total number of bits ofthe HARQ-ACK. For example, as in the above example, the UCI includingthe PUSCH demodulation information is first mapped, and then theHARQ-ACK is mapped. In the UCI including the PUSCH demodulationinformation, information for determining the number of HARQ-ACK bits mayalso be included. For example, similar to the UL DAI included in the ULgrant in the prior art, the UL DAI is included in the UCI for the basestation to determine the total number of bits of the HARQ-ACKtransmitted by the UE in the PUSCH. Preferably, if the UE is configuredwith a HARQ-ACK codebook with a predefined size or a semi-staticallyconfigured size, the UL DAI may be 1 bit, indicating whether the UEsends a HARQ-ACK codebook in the PUSCH. If the UL DAI indicates that theUE has transmitted the HARQ-ACK, the HARQ-ACK codebook is determinedaccording to the predefined size or semi-statically configured size.Preferably, if the UE is configured with a dynamic codebook, the UL DAImay be 2 or 3 or 4 bits, indicating the size of the HARQ-ACK codebook,and the base station determines the total number of HARQ-ACK bitstransmitted by the UE according to the HARQ-ACK feedback information(for example, DL DAI in the DL DCI) for the scheduled PDSCH and thereceived UL DAI transmitted by the UE.

Preferably, the physical resources occupied by the UCI are determinedaccording to physical resources occupied by the PUSCH that is determinedby predefined PUSCH starting and ending points. For example, thephysical resources occupied by the PUSCH are determined according to astarting point that is the earliest in a set of PUSCH starting pointsthat is configured by the base station or predefined and an ending pointthat is the last in a set of PUSCH ending points.

Preferably, the physical resources occupied by the UCI are determinedaccording to MCS information of the PUSCH indicated in the predefined orhigher layer configuration or activation DCI of the uplink transmission.For example, after receiving the activation signaling, the UE starts tomake an attempt on sending an automatic or configured grant-based PUSCH.The MCS information of the PUSCH is indicated in the activationsignaling, and the UE may adjust the MCS by itself in the subsequentPUSCH transmission, and notify the base station by using the UCIinformation. Generally, the physical resources occupied by the UCIcarried by the PUSCH are determined according to the MCS information ofthe data of the PUSCH, such as the TB size and the number of physicalresources occupied by the PUSCH. However, the base station is requiredto determine the information on the physical resources occupied by theUCI according to a certain assumption because the UE may determine theMCS information by itself but the base station is unaware of the MCSinformation when demodulating the UCI. Preferably, the UCI informationincluding the PUSCH demodulation information determines the physicalresources to be occupied according to the assumed MCS information.Preferably, the UCI information including the HARQ-ACK and/or the CSIdetermines the physical resource to be occupied according to the assumedMCS information, or determines the physical resource to be occupiedaccording to the actual MCS information of the PUSCH. For example, theUCI information including the HARQ-ACK information and the PUSCHdemodulation information determines the physical resources to beoccupied according to the assumed MCS information, and the HARQ-ACKinformation is mapped to the first symbol that is not occupied by theDMRS after the first DMRS. The PUSCH demodulation information is mappedto the first complete symbol that is not occupied by the DMRS and avoidsresources that may be occupied by the HARQ-ACK, and the CSI informationis mapped to the first complete symbol that is not occupied by the DMRSand avoids resources that may be occupied by the HARQ-ACK and the PUSCHdemodulation information. The base station may determine the physicalresources occupied by the CSI information after the PUSCH demodulationinformation is decoded.

Preferably, the PUSCH demodulation information includes indicationinformation indicating a coding block group (CBG). For example, itindicates that the current PUSCH transmission includes which CBGs in oneTB.

Preferably, the PUSCH is a PUSCH transmitted by the GUL. Preferably, thePUSCH is a PUSCH transmitted by the SUL.

Preferably, the above method is only applicable to the case where thereceiving party cannot determine the actual starting point and/or endingpoint before receiving the transmitting signal. If the receiving partyalready knows the starting point before receiving, for example, the basestation is the receiving party of the PUSCH and the unique startingpoint of the PUSCH is configured by the base station, the DMRS may startmapping from a first complete symbol after the starting point. Forexample, the base station indicates that the starting point of the PUSCHis at 25 us later than the starting boundary of the fifth symbol of theslot n, and indicates that the PUSCH is a PUSCH of Type B, that is, theDMRS is located at the starting position of the PUSCH. The DMRS of thePUSCH does not start mapping from the 5th symbol, but from the 6thsymbol, because the 5th symbol is an incomplete symbol, which wouldaffect the DMRS channel estimation performance. And, the UCI can startmapping from the first complete symbol that does not include the DMRSafter the starting point, for example, mapping the CSI from symbol 7.

If the PUSCH including UCI has multiple possible ending points, the setof ending point is denoted as S_(e), and the ending point that is theearliest in the set is denoted as P_(end). Then, the ending position ofthe UCI is no later than the symbol P_(end). For example, in somescenarios, at least 25 us must be vacated in the last slot of the uplinktransmission so that the base station can perform an LBT of 25 us inthis gap. When the SCS is 60 kHz, the PUSCH needs to vacate 2 symbols inthe last slot. In other cases, the PUSCH may only need to vacate 1symbol, such as 1 symbol of SRS, or do not need to vacate the symbol.Then, the set S_(e) of end points is {#O₁₂, #O₁₃, #O₁₄}, and the UCImapping needs to end at symbol #O₁₂.

Preferably, if the UCI mapping is performed in the time domain first andin the frequency domain later, the UCI mapping starts from the startingpoint of the UCI mapping to the last symbol in the first available RB inthe time domain, and then to the next RB.

Preferably, if the UCI mapping is performed in the frequency domainfirst and in the time domain later, the UCI mapping starts from thestarting point of the UCI mapping, from the first available RB to thelast available RB, and then to the next symbol.

In an embodiment, if the starting point of the signal to be transmittedby the transmitting node A is related to the Subcarrier Spacing (SC S)or the Cyclic Prefix (CP) of the transmitted signal (collectedlyreferred to as numerology), the position of the symbol where thereference signal and/or UCI information is locate may be determinedaccording to different numerologies. E.g.

TABLE 1 Numerology Numerology Numerology 3 1SCS = 15 KH, normal 2SCS =30 KH, normal SCS = 60 KH, normal CP CP CP possible starting locationsof possible locations of possible locations of possible points of PUSCHstarting points of starting points of starting points of {16 us, 25 us,34 us, PUSCH PUSCH PUSCH 43 us, 52 us, 61 us, {within #0, within #0,{within #0, within #0, {within #0, starting 70 us} within #0, within #0,starting boundary of boundary of #1, within #0, within #0, #1, within#1, within within #1, starting starting boundary of #1, within #1,starting boundary of #2, #1} boundary of #2} within #2, within #2,starting boundary of #3} starting point of the starting boundary ofstarting boundary of starting boundary of first group of DMRSs #1 #2 #3starting point of UCI starting boundary of starting boundary of startingboundary of #2 #3 #4 possible ending {#13, #12, #12} {#13, #12, #12}{#13, #11, #12} points of PUSCH{end of a slot, end of a slot −25 us,last but one symbol} the symbol where #12 #12 #11 the ending point ofUCI is located

The mapping manner of the transmitted signal PUSCH may be determinedaccording to at least one of the following manners:

(1) The UE maps the PUSCH prepared in advance from the selected startingpoint of the actual transmission. The UL grant scheduling the PUSCH onlyindicates the length of the PUSCH, and does not need to indicate thestarting point of the PUSCH, and the UE maps the first symbol of thePUSCH prepared in advance to the starting point of the actualtransmission. If the indicated length of the PUSCH exceeds the number ofsymbols remaining in the scheduled slot, the remaining part of the PUSCHis dropped; or the UE does not determine from which symbol of the PUSCHprepared in advance to start mapping according to the indicated PUSCHstarting point, but fixedly maps the first symbol of the PUSCH preparedin advance to the starting point of the actual transmission. If theindicated length of the PUSCH exceeds the number of symbols remaining inthe scheduled slot, the remaining part of the PUSCH is dropped.

Preferably, the base station may indicate, by using a high-layerconfiguration, a UL grant dynamic indication, or a predefined manner,whether the UE performs PUSCH mapping according to the manner describedabove, or prepares the PUSCHs in advance according to the startingposition indicated in the UL grant, and starts to transmit the PUSCH inthose prepared in advance that correspond to the starting point of theactual transmission of the UE and the subsequent PUSCHs from thestarting point of the actual transmission.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a symbol mapping in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 11, the basestation schedules the UE to transmit a PUSCH, and indicates that thestarting point of the PUSCH is at symbol #2 and the length is 12symbols, and the DMRS is located at the first symbol of the PUSCH, thatis, symbol #2, and symbol #8. The UE generates the PUSCH according tothe UL grant. The base station configures an additional possiblestarting point, i.e., symbol #7. The UE does not successfully completethe LBT before symbol #2, but completes the LBT at symbol #7, so ittransmits the PUSCH at symbol #7. According to the above describedmanner, the UE extracts the first 7 symbols from the prepared PUSCH, andmaps to symbols #7 to #13 of this slot. For comparison, another mappingmode is shown in the figure. The UE extracts the last 7 symbols from theprepared PUSCH and maps to symbols #7˜#13 of this slot.

Preferably, the method described above is also applicable to downlinktransmission. For example, the starting point of the PDSCH is notindicated in the DL DCI that schedules the PDSCH, or the indicatedstarting point is an offset from the PDCCH. FIG. 12 shows an example ofa symbol mapping in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 12, the base station schedules the UE toreceive the PDSCH, and indicates that the starting point of the PDSCH isthe first symbol after the PDCCH ends, the length is 12 symbols, and theDMRS is located at the first symbol of the PDSCH, that is, symbol #2,and symbol #9. The base station generates a 12-symbol PDSCH based on theDL DCI. The base station configures an additional possible startingpoint, i.e., symbol #7. The base station does not successfully completethe LBT before symbol #2, and completes the LBT at symbol #7, so ittransmits the PDCCH at symbol #7. According to the manner describedabove, the base station extracts the first 6 symbols from the preparedPDSCH, and maps to the first symbol after the PDCCH, that is, fromsymbol #9 to symbol #13. For comparison, another mapping method is shownin the figure. The base station extracts the last 6 symbols from theprepared PDSCH and maps to symbols #8˜#13 of this slot.

Preferably, the base station configures, for the UE, a set S_(adp) ofother possible uplink transmission starting point or downlinktransmission starting point in addition to the time starting pointP_(s0) configured by the base station by using the DL DCI or the ULgrant or the higher layer configuration. The UE preferentially attemptsto receive or transmit a signal according to the time starting pointP_(s0). If the signal cannot be received or transmitted at the timestarting point P_(s0) due to the failure of the LBT, it attempt to tryto receive or transmit at a point in the set S_(adp) later than P_(s0).

Preferably, the starting point indicated in the set S_(adp) may be anabsolute position in a slot or an offset backward with respect toP_(s0). For example, the indicated P_(s0) is symbol #2, and the setS_(adp) indicates the offsets with respect to symbol #2, which are 1, 3,and 5 symbols, that is, the set of starting points are symbols #3, #5,and #7.

Embodiment 2

In the 5G system, the concept of the bandwidth part (BWP) is introduced.The UE performs reception and transmission within one BWP, respectively.The downlink reception is performed within the DL BWP, and the uplinktransmission is performed on the UL BWP. A BWP may be equal to thesystem bandwidth of the carrier or a part of the system bandwidth. Thebase station may configure multiple BWPs for the UE, but the UE can onlytransmit or receive on one BWP at a time. Such a BWP is called an activeBWP (active BWP). The base station may dynamically indicate the activeBWP by dynamic signaling, for example, scheduling DL or UL grant ofdownlink or uplink data, or the active BWP may fall back to a defaultBWP according to a predefined timer. As the UE capabilities increase,some UEs can receive or transmit on multiple BWPs simultaneously.

In the prior art, the bandwidth of the uplink LBT is equal to thebandwidth occupied by the uplink transmission, that is, the systembandwidth of the carrier, and the bandwidth of the downlink LBT is alsoequal to the system bandwidth of the carrier, for example, 20 MHz. Thatis, the LBT needs to be performed over the entire system bandwidth. Inthe new system, it supports that the BWP where the downlink transmissionor the uplink transmission to be actually transmitted is located is onlypart of the system bandwidth. If the LBT based on system bandwidth isstill used, it will lead to an overly conservative access mechanism. Forexample, in new systems, as base station and UE capabilities increase,downlink or uplink transmissions can support a larger bandwidth BW1,such as 80 MHz bandwidth. Each transmission may be transmitted over theentire BW1, or only on a part of the bandwidth BW1, for example, 20 MHzmay be the minimum transmission bandwidth. Then, if the expectedtransmission bandwidth is only 20 MHz, but it still performs LBT at 80MHz, the LBT performing on 80 MHz may fail due to interference at theother 60 MHz in 80 MHz, resulting in that the transmitting party isunable to transmit a signal even if there is no interference at theexpected 20 MHz. In order to avoid the performance loss of theconservative access mechanism, the LBT performed by the base station orthe UE before the transmission may be performed on a bandwidth smallerthan the bandwidth BW1. For example, the BW1 may be divided into M1subbands or BWPs, for example, M1=4, the bandwidth of each subband orBWP is 20 MHz. The transmitting party may perform LBT on the M1 subbandsor BWPs respectively, and transmit signals on one or more subbands orBWPs on which the LBT is successfully performed. The BW1 is equal to theBWP on which the UE transmits or receives, or the subband or BWP isequal to the BWP on which the UE transmits or receives.

In an implementation, the transmitting party maps one PDSCH or PUSCHthat is expected to be transmitted to the subband or BWP on which theLBT is successfully performed according to the LBT result of eachsubband or BWP. If the subband or BWP on which the LBT is successfullyperformed is not equal to BW1, it means that the PDSCH or PUSCH has amodulation and coding rate higher than the expected modulation andcoding rate, which will bring a great burden to the transmitting party,and the transmitting party is required to perform rate matching,resource mapping for the PDSCH or the PUSCH according to the availablefrequency domain resources within a short time. In anotherimplementation, the transmitting party prepares the PDSCH or the PUSCHaccording to the time-frequency resource expected to be scheduled. Forexample, it is expected to be scheduled to transmit on the BW1 80 MHz.The transmitting party maps bits of the prepared PDSCH or PUSCHcorresponding to the subbands or BWPs on which the LBT detection issuccessfully performed to the subbands or BWPs on which the LBTdetection is successfully performed for transmission. Since the PDSCH orthe PUSCH is mapped in the frequency domain first and in the time domainlater in the entire 80 MHz band, some bits in one CBG are dropped, thatis, the bits corresponding to the subbands or BWPs on which the LBTdetection fails are dropped, and the remaining bits are transmitted.Since these dropped bits result in a decoding error of the CBG includingthese dropped bits, a NACK is generated, which eventually results in aNACK for each CBG of one TB because each CBG includes a dropped bit.Therefore, the performance is significantly reduced.

In order to reduce the impact of the dropped bits and reduce the burdenon the transmitting party, the transmitting party may perform themapping in the frequency domain first and in the time domain later ineach subband or BWP on which the LBT is performed when preparing thePDSCH or the PUSCH. The transmitting party maps bits of the preparedPDSCH or PUSCH corresponding to the subbands or BWPs on which the LBTdetection is successfully performed to the subbands or BWPs on which theLBT detection is successfully performed for transmission. This caneffectively limit the bits on the untransmitted subband or BWP withinsome CBGs, and reduce the impact on other successfully transmitted bits.

Preferably, when bits are mapped in each subband, bits of one CB cannotspan two subbands, that is, only within one subband. Preferably, whenthe CBG is constructed, one CBG cannot span two subbands, that is, onlywithin one subband.

FIG. 13 shows an example of a symbol mapping in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 13, the basestation schedules the UE to receive the PDSCH on 80 MHz bandwidth. Thebase station performs the mapping of the PDSCH in each subband in thefrequency domain first and in the time domain later. That is, firstly insubband 1, the PDSCH is mapped from the first subcarrier of one symbolto the last subcarrier of the symbol, and then to the second symbol, andso on. Then in subband 2, PDSCH is mapped from the first subcarrier ofone symbol to the last subcarrier of this symbol, and then to the secondsymbol, and so on, until it is mapped in subband 4. The base stationthen maps bits of subband 2 and subband 4 of the prepared PDSCH tosubband 2 and subband 4 based on the result of the LBT. Assuming that aTB can be divided into 8 CBGs, there are 2 CBGs in each subband. Whethera subband is transmitted has no effect on the decoding result of the CBGof that subband.

Preferably, the uplink transmit power is calculated according to thenumber of scheduled PRBs.

Preferably, the uplink transmit power is calculated according to thenumber of actually transmitted PRBs.

Preferably, in the power head reporting (PHR), the power of the PUSCH iscalculated according to the number of scheduled PRBs.

Preferably, when the UE needs to transmit the PUCCH, the UE may performLBT on multiple subbands, and then transmit the PUCCH on a subband onwhich the LBT is successfully performed. When the UE successfullycompletes the LBT on multiple subbands, the UE may select one subband totransmit the PUCCH, or select one subband to transmit the PUCCHaccording to a predefined rule.

Preferably, the predefined rule is at least one of the following:

(1) The UE transmits the PUCCH on the subband with the smallest indexvalue in the subbands on which the LBT is successfully performed.

(2) The base station pre-configures the subband sequence fortransmitting the PUCCH; the UE determines to transmit the PUCCH on thesubband with the highest priority according to the configured subbandsequence in the subbands on which the LBT is successfully performed.

(3) The UE selects the subband that has earliest PUCCH resources in thesubbands on which the LBT is successfully performed to transmit thePUCCH.

(4) The UE selects the subband with the highest transmission efficiencyof the PUCCH resource in the subbands on which the LBT is successfullyperformed to transmit the PUCCH.

Preferably, the coding rate when the UCI is transmitted on the physicalresource of the PUCCH does not exceed the configured or predeterminedUCI maximum coding rate, and the less the physical resources occupied bythe PUCCH is, the transmission efficiency of the PUCCH resource is thehighest.

Preferably, the base station may separately configure PUCCH resourcesfor the UE on one or more subbands. The UE selects a subband in thesubbands on which the LBT is successfully performed according to theabove manner, and transmits the PUCCH on the PUCCH resource on thesubband. Preferably, the base station may configure the PUCCH resourceon the BWP for the UE. If the bandwidth of the subband on which the LBTis successfully performed is less than the BWP bandwidth, the UEtransmits the PUCCH on the physical resource that belongs to theconfigured PUCCH resource on the subband.

Preferably, the transmitting party may indicate on which subbands orBWPs the transmitted signal is transmitted.

Preferably, the actually transmitted subband or BWP may be indicatedexplicitly in the DCI. For example, a specific bit field is included inthe DCI indicating the actually transmitted subband or BWP. Taking thebit field length of 2 bits as an example, four combinations of actuallytransmitted subbands or BWPs can be indicated. The combination isconfigured by higher layer signaling.

Preferably, the actually transmitted subband or BWP can be indicated bya predefined signal. For example, a predefined pilot sequence istransmitted on the actually transmitted subband or BWP, and thereceiving party may determine whether there is a signal transmission onthe subband or BWP by detecting the pilot sequence.

Preferably, when the PUCCH and the PUSCH overlap in the time domain, ifthe LBT corresponding to the PUSCH transmission succeeds, the UCI in thePUCCH is carried on the PUSCH, and the PUCCH transmission is discarded;if the LBT corresponding to the PUSCH transmission is unsuccessful, andthe LBT corresponding to the PUCCH transmission is successful, only thePUCCH is transmitted.

For example, the activated BWP bandwidth is 40 MHz, which can be dividedinto two non-overlapping LBT subbands, each subband being 20 MHz. If thebase station schedules UE to transmit a PUSCH on the 40 MHz bandwidth,the PUSCH can be transmitted if and only if the UE successfullycompletes the LBT on the 2 LBT subbands. Differently, the PUCCH resourceis within one subband, and the UE only needs to successfully completethe LBT on one subband before transmitting the PUCCH. If the UEsuccessfully completes the LBT only on one LBT subband, the UE does nottransmit the PUSCH and only transmits the PUCCH. If the UE successfullycompletes the LBT on the two LBT subbands, the UE transmits the PUSCHand transmits the UCI in the PUCCH on the PUSCH, while does not transmitthe PUCCH.

Embodiment 3

The PUCCH may allocate resources by taking a predefined Resource BlockGroup (RBG) as a minimum unit. For example, the resource block group isa set of RBs that are divided at a predefined interval within a BWP, orwithin a predefined bandwidth. For example, if the BWP or thepredetermined bandwidth is 40 MHz and includes 200 RBs, 10 RBGs may beformed at intervals of 10 RBs. Each RBG includes 20 RBs that areseparated by 10 RBs. For example, the first RBG includes 1, 11, 21, . .. or 191 RBs.

When the base station configures the PUCCH resource for the UE, it takesthe RBG as the minimum unit, and may configure one or more RBGs for theUE.

The UE may determine the actually required PUCCH resource according tothe number of bits of the uplink control information UCI and thepredefined maximum coding rate. The actually required PUCCH resourcealso takes an RBG as the minimum unit and does not exceed the configurednumber of RBGs. If the number of RBGs required for the actually requiredPUCCH resource is less than the configured number of RBGs, the RBGs areselected from the RBGs with the lower indexes in the configured RBGs.

For example, the base station configures four PUCCH resources for theUE, which are the first RBG, the fifth RBG, the fourth and fifth RBGs,and the eighth and ninth RBGs. The base station indicates one of thePUCCH resources, the 4th and 5th RBGs to the UE. Each RBG includes 10RBs. The UE calculates the actually required PUCCH resource as 8 RBsaccording to the number of bits of the UCI and the predefined maximumcoding rate. Since 8 is smaller than the total number of RBs (10 RBs) of1 RBG, the UE should select one of the 4th and 5th RBGs indicated, thathas the smaller index, that is, the 4th RBG.

Another implementation in which the PUCCH may allocate resources bytaking a predefined Resource Block Group (RBG) as a minimum unit is thata resource block group comprises X PRBs, and the number of occupiedresource block groups is ≥N. For example, if X=1, the number of PRBsthat may be occupied by one PUCCH is ≥N, where the value of N may bedetermined according to a predefined rule. For example, in somefrequency bands of the unlicensed frequency band, the resource occupiedby the transmitted signals in the frequency domain needs to meet therequirement of occupying the channel bandwidth. The resource occupied bythe transmitted signal in the frequency domain is not less than 2 MHz,and this is temporary. Taking the subcarrier spacing being 15 KHz as anexample, at least N=12 PRBs need to be transmitted. When the basestation configures the PUCCH resource for the UE, for the UE, each PUCCHresource occupies consecutive M PRBs in the frequency domain, and M≥N.

The UE may determine the actually required PUCCH resource according tothe number of bits of the uplink control information UCI, the predefinedmaximum coding rate, and N. If the number L of PRBs occupied by thePUCCH resource determined according to the number of bits of the uplinkcontrol information UCI and the predefined maximum coding rate is lessthan N, L may be divided into Z groups and dispersed within the channelbandwidth. For example, Z=2, that is, L PRBs are divided into twogroups, the two group including floor(L/2) and ceil(L/2) PRBsrespectively, where floor means rounded down and ceil means rounded up.The two groups of PRBs are respectively placed at both ends of the PRBsoccupied by the PUCCH resources indicated by the base station. Forexample, the base station configures four PUCCH resources for the UE,which are 1st to 13th PRBs, 20th to 35th PRBs, 40th to 55th PRBs, and60th to 71th PRBs. The base station indicates one of the PUCCHresources, i.e., 20th to 35th PRBs for the UE. The UE calculates theactual required PUCCH resource as 10 PRBs according to the number ofbits of the UCI and the predefined maximum coding rate. Then, theresources occupied by the PUCCH actually transmitted by the UE are the20th to 24th PRBs, and the 31st to 35th PRBs. Alternatively, the firstgroup of PRBs is placed with the first PRB occupied by the PUCCHresources indicated by the base station as a starting point, and theinterval between the last PRB of the second group of PRBs and thestarting point of the first group of PRBs is not less than N PRBs. Forexample, the resources occupied by the PUCCH actually transmitted by theUE are the 20th to 24th PRBs, and the 28th to 31th PRBs. Alternatively,if the PUCCH resource configured by the base station is granulated by aninterlace, the L PRBs are divided into two groups, one groupcorresponding to the first (L/2) PRBs of the interlace, and the otherone group corresponding to the last (L/2) PRBs of the interlace. Forexample, an interlace contains 20 PRBs. When L=8, the actual PUCCHresource occupies the 1st to 4th PRBs and the 17th to 20th PRBs of the20 PRBs. For another example, when L=26, it occupies one completeinterlace and the 1st to 3rd PRBs and the 18th to 20th PRBs of thesecond interlace.

In the above example, for simplicity and clarity of description of thepresent invention, a simplified description of how to determine severalPUCCH resources according to the indication of the base station isprovided. In an actual system, the UE generally needs to determine aPUCCH resource group according to the number of bits of the UCI, anddetermine a PUCCH resource in the PUCCH resource group according to aPUCCH resource index (PRI) indicated by the base station. Based on this,the present invention further determines a PRB/RBG actually occupied bya UE in the PUCCH resource.

Embodiment 4

The base station may configure repetition transmission of the PDSCH orPUSCH of the UE, and configure a redundancy version (RV) sequence whenconfiguring repetition transmission. For example, the base stationconfigures the PUSCH with a repetition factor of 4 for the UE, andconfigures the RV sequence to be RV₁, RV₂, RV₃, and RV₄, which in turncorrespond to PUSCH₁, PUSCH₂, PUSCH₃, and PUSCH₄, and all four PUSCHsinclude the same TB. Among them, RV₁ has a value in the range of 0, 1,2, 3.

The base station schedules the UE to perform PUSCH transmission on theindicated uplink slot by using the UL grant, and the UE performs the LBTbefore the start of the uplink slot. For example, the base stationinstructs the UE to transmit a PUSCH having a repetition factor of 4 onthe uplink slots n, n+1, n+2, and n+3. The UE performs LBT before thePUSCH resource of the uplink slot n starts. If the LBT succeeds, thePUSCH₁, PUSCH₂, PUSCH₃, and PUSCH₄ may be continuously transmitted inthe four slots from the slot n. if the UE does not successfully completethe LBT before the PUSCH resource of the uplink slot n starts, the UEmay continue to perform the LBT until the LBT is completed before thePUSCH resource of the slot n+j starts, and the PUSCH may be continuouslytransmitted from the slot n+j to the slot n+3, where j≤3. In oneimplementation, the UE continuously transmits PUSCH₁ . . . PUSCH_(4-j)from slot n+j to slot n+3, and the RV corresponding to each PUSCH is RV₁. . . RV_(4-j), respectively. For example, the RV₁, RV₂, RV₃, and RV₄configured by the base station are 0, 2, 3, and 1, respectively. Supposej=2. Then, the UE transmits PUSCH₁ and PUSCH₂ on the slot n+2 and theslot n+3, respectively, and RV is 0 and 2, respectively. Preferably, theUE may further transmit a UCI when transmitting the PUSCH, where the UCIincludes RV information. For example, the PUSCH₁ transmitted by the UEon the slot n+2 includes RV information RV=0, and the PUSCH₂ transmittedby the UE on the slot n+3 includes RV information RV=2. It has theadvantage that the RV blind detection of the PUSCH by the base stationcan be reduced, and the base station can determine the RV of each PUSCHaccording to the RV information in the UCI. In another implementation,the UE continuously transmits PUSCH_(j) . . . PUSCH₄ from the slot n+jto the slot n+3, and the RV corresponding to each PUSCH is RV_(j) . . .RV₄, respectively.

In order to enable the transmitted PUSCH to include at least oneself-decodable RV, for example, RV=0 of at least one PUSCH, the basestation shall configure a self-decodable RV for the last PUSCH, forexample, PUSCH₄ when configuring the RV sequence. For example, the RVsequence configured by the base station is {1, 3, 2, 0}, or {3, 0, 3,0}, or is {0, 0, 0, 0}. When the number of configured PUSCH repetitiontransmissions is greater than the RV sequence length, for example, thenumber of PUSCH repetition transmissions is 6, and the RV sequencelength is 4, the RVs of PUSCH₁ to PUSCH₆ are {RV₃, RV₄, RV₁, RV₂, RV₃,RV₄}, respectively.

The repetition transmission of the PUSCH may also be in units of slots,that is, each PUSCH is in a different slot. In some scenarios, thecontinuously transmitted N PUSCHs are beneficial for the UE tocontinuously occupy the channel, and the base station may indicate, byusing the UL grant, the slot and the starting point where the firstPUSCH of the N PUSCHs is located (the starting point may be a symbolboundary, such as a symbol 0 or a symbol 1, or within one symbol, forexample, 25 us later than the starting boundary of the symbol 0), the UEoccupies N slots consecutively from the starting point, with no intervalin-between, and the UL grant indicates the symbol where the last PUSCHof the N PUSCHs ends. The value of N may be configured by the basestation through higher layer signaling, or the base station indicates itby using the UL grant. The mapping method of the above PUSCH is calledMode One. In other scenarios, in order to ensure that other UEs alsohave an opportunity to access the channel during a UE transmits the NPUSCHs, the base station may indicate the starting and ending positionsof the N PUSCHs in each slot by using the UL grant. Therefore, it ispossible to support the N PUSCHs with intervals in-between in the timedimension. The mapping method of the above PUSCH is called Mode Two. Inthis case, the UE performs the first type LBT or the second type LBTbefore the first PUSCH, and may perform a faster LBT before the secondto N PUSCHs, for example, the second type LBT (25 us). The base stationmay uniformly indicate the start and end of each PUSCH to support thesame starting and ending positions in the UL grant, or respectivelyindicate the start and end of each PUSCH to support possibly differentstarting and ending positions. Preferably, the base station mayconfigure multiple sets of starting and ending point combinations ofindividual PUSCHs by using higher layer signaling, and the base stationindicates one set in the UL grant. Preferably, the base station canexplicitly indicate in the physical layer signaling (for example, the ULgrant or the common PDCCH) whether the UE transmits the PUSCH in ModeOne or Mode Two, for example, by using an extra bit indication or byusing a specific combination of some bits in the UL grant. Preferably,the base station may configure a specific set of slots, and the UEperforms PUSCH transmission in Mode 2 in the set of slots and performsPUSCH transmission in mode 1 in other slots. For example, in order toreduce the impact of the PUSCH on the PRACH transmission, the basestation may configure some slots in which the UE must perform PUSCHtransmission in Mode Two, so that the PRACH in the same slot has achance to successfully complete the LBT. The base station may configurethe starting point of the PUSCH of the UE to be aligned with thestarting point for transmitting the PRACH. For example, the startingpoint of the PUSCH is the starting boundary of the symbol determined bythe uplink transmission timing+TA (timing advance). Alternatively, thebase station may configure the starting point of the PUSCH of the UElater than the starting point for transmitting PRACH.

The repetition transmission of the PUSCH may also be in units ofsymbols, that is, each PUSCH may occupy N symbols, and the N symbolsoccupied by each PUSCH are adjacent. For example, if the number ofrepetitions of the PUSCH is 4 and the time resource of each PUSCH is 2symbols, the UE can transmit the 4 PUSCHs on consecutive 8 symbols. Thebase station may configure the value of N by the higher layer signaling,or indicate the value of N by using the UL grant, and may indicate thestarting point of the first PUSCH of the continuously transmitted NPUSCHs by using the UL grant, for example, it starts at or within whichsymbol of which slot. Preferably, the continuously transmitted PUSCHcannot go beyond the boundary of the slot.

Preferably, similarly to the repetition transmission of the PUSCH inunits of slots, for the PUSCH that is repeated in units of symbols,there are two ways to map the PUSCH. The base station can explicitlyindicate whether the UE is in Mode One or Mode Two in the physical layersignaling. The PUSCH is transmitted, or configures a specific set ofslots, and the UE performs PUSCH transmission in Mode 2 in the set ofslots and performs PUSCH transmission in mode 1 in other slots. Forexample, the base station indicates in the UL grant that the UE usesMode Two to transmit the PUSCH, indicates the number of symbols occupiedby each PUSCH in the UL grant, for example, two symbols, and indicatesthat the starting point of the first PUSCH is at the starting boundaryof the symbol 0 of the slot n+TA. So, PUSCH₂ occupies symbols 2 and 3,the starting point is at the starting boundary of symbol 2+TA; PUSCH₃occupies symbols 4 and 5, the starting point is at the starting boundaryof symbol 4+TA; and PUSCH₄ occupies symbols 6 and 7, and the startingpoint is at the starting boundary of symbol 6+TA.

Preferably, the method for transmitting the PUSCH described above isalso applicable to the case of scheduling multiple PUSCHs by one ULgrant (referred to as multiple-PUSCH scheduling). For example, one ULgrant schedules four PUSCHs, and each PUSCH corresponds to a differenttransmission block (TB). The method for transmitting the PUSCH in ModeOne or Mode Two is also applicable to each PUSCH. Mode One is that thefour PUSCHs are continuously transmitted with no Interval in-between,and Mode Two is that the four PUSCHs have the same starting and endingpoints in each slot.

If it is required to dynamically indicate the switching between theslot-based multiple PUSCH scheduling and symbol-based multiple PUSCHscheduling (also referred to as sub-slot-based scheduling), or acombination of the two modes, the base station may indicate one or acombination of the two modes in any entry in the configured timeresource allocation information table, and dynamically indicates theentry in the configured time resource allocation information table inthe UL grant. For example, an indication of the slot-based scheduling orthe sub-slot-based scheduling is added in the time resource allocationinformation PUSCH-TimeDomainResourceAllocation defined in the 3GPP NRprotocol TS 38.331, so that the UE can determine the indicated startsymbol, and whether the length information (startSymbolAndLength) isapplicable to the first slot and the last slot or applicable to thefirst PUSCH. For another example, startSymbolAndLength includes 2fields, one of which represents the time resource of the first PUSCHscheduled based on the sub-slot, and the other represents the timeresource of the last PUSCH based on the slot scheduling, that is, theend symbol of this PUSCH. Then, the UE may transmit continuously in thefirst slot X PUSCHs based on the sub-slots scheduling from the startingpoint of the first PUSCH based on the sub-slot scheduling, each PUSCHhaving the same length as the first PUSCH, and transmit one PUSCH thatoccupies the entire slot in each subsequent slot, and transit in thelast slot the last PUSCH from the first symbol. The end symbol of thelast PUSCH is based on the time resource of the last PUSCH based on theslot scheduling as indicated in startSymbolAndLength. In the aboveimplementation, the number of continuously transmitted PUSCHs or thenumber of slots is configured by a single bit field. In anotherimplementation, the number of continuously transmitted PUSCHs or thenumber of slots, the scheduling mode of each PUSCH, and the symbolstarting boundary and length of individual PUSCHs are jointly encoded.

Embodiment 5

The scheduling of multiple PUSCHs, that is, scheduling multiple PUSCHsby one UL grant, can save signaling overhead of uplink scheduling.Multiple PUSCHs scheduled by one UL grant carry different transportblocks (TBs). To support flexible scheduling, the transmission status ofeach TB can be different, for example, some TBs are for initialtransmissions and some TBs are for retransmissions. Therefore, there isa bit field indicating retransmission or new transmission respectivelyfor each TB in a UL grant. For example, one UL grant schedules 4 PUSCHs,and each PUSCH has 1 bit NDI. If the base station configures a CBG-basedtransmission, the CBG transmitted by each TB may be different. Forexample, for the initially transmitted TB, all CBGs of the TB need to betransmitted. For the retransmitted TB, some or all of the CBGs of the TBneed to be transmitted. For different retransmitted TBs, the CBGs thatneed to be retransmitted may also be different. In a UL grant,indicating the CBG information of each TB scheduled separately mayresult in a maximum flexibility, but the DCI overhead is too large. Inorder to reduce the DCI overhead, in a UL grant, a general indication isused for the CBG information of all scheduled TBs, and the CBGinformation indication is common to each retransmitted TB, and the newlytransmitted TB does not depend on the CBG information indication. AllCBGs of the newly transmitted TB are transmitted. For example, theconfigured maximum number of CBGs N_(HARQ-ACK) ^(CBG/TB,max)=4, and 4bits in the UL grant indicate whether to transmit the 4 CBGs. For thePUSCH for which the NDI in the UL grant indicates a new transmission,the CBG to be transmitted is not determined according to the CBGinformation indication, and all CBGs are to be transmitted. For thePUSCH for which the NDI in the UL grant indicates a retransmission, theCBG to be transmitted is determined according to the CBG informationindication. The CBGs transmitted by these retransmitted PUSCHs are thesame.

It is not difficult to see that the general CBG indication limits theflexibility of scheduling. In order to achieve a compromise betweenflexibility and DCI overhead, a CBG indication bit field is defined inthe UL grant for indicating CBG information for each PUSCH, and itsupports that the CBGs transmitted by each PUSCH are the same ordifferent.

Preferably, the bit number M1 of the CBG indication bit field isconfigured by the base station or predefined.

One implementation is that the CBG indication bit field is only used forthe retransmitted PUSCH. The number of bits of the CBG indicationcorresponding to each retransmitted PUSCH is Xb=floor(M1/Np), orXb=ceil(M1/Np), where M1 is the sum of the number of bits of the CBGindication corresponding to all retransmitted PUSCHs, Np is the numberof retransmitted PUSCHs scheduled by one UL grant. The bit positions ofthe CBG indications corresponding to respective retransmitted PUSCHs aredetermined according to the HARQ process ID of the PUSCHs or the timeresource order of the PUSCHs.

Preferably, the Xb bit indicates whether N_(HARQ-ACK) ^(CBG/TB,max)number of CBGs are transmitted in a bit-map manner. For example, Xb=4bits, N_(HARQ-ACK) ^(CBG/TB,max)=4 CBGs. The 4 bits are respectivelyassociated with 4 CBGs, ‘1’ means transmission, and ‘0’ means notransmission. If Xb<N_(HARQ-ACK) ^(CBG/TB,max), each bit indicates thetransmission of Xc CBGs, where Xc=floor(N_(HARQ-ACK) ^(CBG/TB,max))/Xbor ceil(N_(HARQ-ACK) ^(CBG/TB,max))/Xb). Alternatively, if the number ofbits Xb of the CBG indication corresponding to each PUSCH is smallerthan the number C of the code blocks of the PUSCH, each bit indicatesthe transmission of Xc CBGs, where Xc=floor (C/Xb) or ceil (C/Xb). IfXb>N_(HARQ-ACK) ^(CBG/TB,max), the first N_(HARQ-ACK) ^(CBG/TB,max) bitsof the Xb bits are used to indicate the transmission of N_(HARQ-ACK)^(CBG/TB,max) CBGs. Alternatively, M1 is an integer multiple of Np.Alternatively, N_(HARQ-ACK) ^(CBG/TB,max) is an integer multiple of Xb.

For example, assuming that the maximum number of CBGs configured by thebase station is N_(HARQ-ACK) ^(CBG/TB,max)=4, the number of bits used toindicate CBG in the UL grant that schedules multiple PUSCHs is M1=8. Inone scheduling, one UL grant schedules PUSCHs 1˜4 to occupy slots #2˜#5,where PUSCH 1 and PUSCH3 are newly transmitted PUSCHs, and PUSCH2 andPUSCH4 are retransmitted PUSCHs. Then, for PUSCH2 and PUSCH4, it needsto determine the CBG to be transmitted according to the CBG bitindication, that is, Np=2, and each PUSCH corresponds to a M1/Np=4 bitCBG indication. Then, according to the time resource order of the PUSCH,PUSCH2 corresponds to the first 4 bits of the 8-bit CBG indicationfield, and PUSCH4 corresponds to the last 4 bits of the 8-bit CBGindication field. In the next scheduling, one UL grant schedules PUSCHs5˜8 to occupy slots #10˜#13, respectively, where all PUSCHs areretransmitted PUSCHs. Then, each PUSCH corresponds to an M1/Np=2 bit CBGindication. Since N_(HARQ-ACK) ^(CBG/TB,max)=4, the CBG indication is 2bits, then each bit indicates the transmission of 2 CBGs. That is, thefirst 2 CBGs correspond to the first bit indication, and the last 2 CBGcorresponds to the second bit indication. In a specific implementation,the base station can dynamically switch between scheduling of multiplePUSCHs and scheduling of a single PUSCH, so as to achieve a compromisebetween scheduling flexibility and signaling overhead.

Preferably, the Xb bit indicates whether to transmit N_(HARQ-ACK)^(CBG/TB,max) CBGs according to a predefined rule. The Xb bit mayindicate 2^(Xb) number of status of CBG transmissions. For example, Xb=2bits, N_(HARQ-ACK) ^(CBG/TB,max)=4. The value “00” of Xb indicates thatall four CBGs are transmitted, “01” indicates that the first CBG istransmitted, “10” indicates that the first and second CBGs aretransmitted, and “11” indicates that the first to third CBGs aretransmitted. The predefined rules are predefined by the standard, orconfigured by the base station.

Another implementation is that M1 indicates the transmission of CBGs ofmultiple PUSCHs. The M1 bit can indicate 2^(M1) number of status of CBGtransmissions. The 2^(M1) number of status of CBG transmissions arepredefined by the standard. Optionally, the 2^(M1) number of status ofCBG transmissions correspond to the retransmitted PUSCHs. Optionally,the 2M1 number of status of CBG transmissions corresponds to thescheduled PUSCH. In addition, in the scheduling of multiple PUSCHs, thebase station may schedule multiple PUSCHs in the first slot, and eachPUSCH occupies a partial slot (also referred to as sub-slot scheduling).For example, each PUSCH occupies 2 symbols. The base station mayschedule one PUSCH for each subsequent slot, and the PUSCH occupies anentire slot. The PUSCH scheduled in the last slot occupies multiplesymbols starting from the first symbol of the slot. Considering that theCBG-based transmission benefits the PUSCH based on the sub-slotscheduling less, the TB-based scheduling is used for the PUSCH based onthe sub-slot scheduling in the first slot, and the CBG-based schedulingis used for the other slots. Then, for the PUSCH for which the NDI inthe UL grant indicates a new transmission, and for the PUSCH based onthe sub-slot scheduling in the first slot for which the transmitted CBGsare not determined according to the CBG indication, all the CBGs are tobe transmitted, while for other PUSCHs, the CBGs to be transmitted aredetermined according to the CBG indication, and the CBGs transmitted bythese PUSCHs are the same.

Preferably, the base station can configure which CBG indication methodis used.

In the scheduling of multiple PUSCHs, in order to save signalingoverhead, only one MCS may be indicated in the UL grant, which is commonto the plurality of PUSCHs that are scheduled. The number of resources(RE) actually occupied by these PUSCHs may be different. The TBS of eachPUSCH are determined according to the information on scheduledtime-frequency resource of each PUSCH. The scheduled time-frequencyresource of the PUSCH is jointly determined by the PUSCH time-frequencyresource information indicated in the UL grant and other uplink signals.The other uplink signals include SRS. For example, if the time resourceof a certain PUSCH is the 3rd to 13th symbols in a slot, and the 13thsymbol in the slot is used to transmit the SRS, the TBS is calculatedaccording to 10 symbols, that is, the part of PUSCH resource occupied bythe SRS symbol is subtracted. Preferably, the other uplink signalsinclude uplink control information, such as aperiodic CSI.

Embodiment 6

If there are more than one available transmission method for the uplinktransmission signal, for example, it may be based on a discontinuousresource allocation manner in the frequency domain, such as based oninterlace, or based on a resource allocation manner that continuouslyoccupies one or more PRBs in the frequency domain, the transmissionmethod may be determined according to at least one of the followings.

(1) For as operating frequency point, or frequency band, thetransmission method is unique, and the one transmission method ispre-defined by the standard.

(2) It indicates which transmission method to use by system informationsuch as RMSI. In the RMSI, the signaling of the initial uplink BWP maybe configured, or an additional separate signaling may be used toindicate which transmission method to use.

(3) It indicates which transmission method use by the DCI.

Preferably, for the DCI in the PDCCH user-specific search space, forexample, DCI 0_1, the base station configures that it only supports onePRB resource allocation mode, or it supports dynamic switching ofmultiple PRB resource allocation modes. If the base station configuresto support dynamic switching of multiple PRB resource allocation modes,the bit field length for frequency domain resource allocation in the DCIis determined according to the maximum value of bits required formultiple PRB resource allocation modes.

Preferably, before establishing an RRC connection, the base stationindicates the transmission method according to at least one of theforegoing methods.

Preferably, before establishing an RRC connection, the base stationindicates a transmission method for the random access channel PRACHaccording to at least one of the foregoing methods, and determines thetransmission methods for other uplink sending signals, such as PUSCHand/or PUCCH, according to the indicated PRACH transmission method.

Preferably, before establishing an RRC connection, based on the methodsdescribed above, the base station may use the same method or a differentmethod to indicate the transmission methods for PRACH, PUSCH, and PUCCH.

Preferably, for a PUSCH transmission that uses a fallback DCI, such asDCI 0_0 scheduling, the base station indicates a transmission methodaccording to at least one of the foregoing methods. For a PUSCHtransmission using a normal DCI, such as DCI 0_1 scheduling, or aconfigured PUSCH transmission, the base station may indicate one of theplurality of transmission methods by higher layer signaling.

Preferably, after establishing an RRC connection, the base station mayconfigure one of the plurality of transmission methods by higher layersignaling.

Preferably, if the interlace-based resource allocation mode is used, theinterlace information indicated by the bit field of the frequency domainresource allocation includes at least one of: the partial interlacelocated in a certain one or more consecutive LBT subbands, the partialinterlace determined with a predefined PRB interval, one or morecomplete interlaces. Among them, a complete interlace is an interlacethat fills the entire activated BWP with the predefined PRB interval M.For example, the BWP bandwidth is 40 MHz, the PRB interval is M=10 PRBs,and a complete interlace includes N=20 PRBs with an interval of 10 PRBs.The partial interlace determined with the predefined PRB interval is N1PRBs among N PRBs in one interlace, wherein N1 PRBs are equally spacedin the frequency domain, and the frequency domain interval of the N1PRBs is an integer multiple of M.

The technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention isillustrated from the point of view of the transmitting party. It shouldbe understood that the solution can also be implemented correspondinglyat the receiving party. FIG. 14 shows an exemplary flow diagram of amethod for receiving a signal in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention. As shown in FIG. 14, the method comprises anoperation S1410 of receiving a signal transmitted from a transmittingparty.

The method comprises an operation S1420 of determining a symbol mappingof the signal based on a selected starting position or a set ofcandidate starting positions of the signal.

In some embodiments, the signal may be a Physical Uplink Shared ControlChannel (PUSCH) or a Physical Downlink Shared Control Channel (PDSCH),which may be a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS). In this case,determining the symbol mapping of the signal based on a selectedstarting position or a set of candidate starting positions of the signalmay include: determining a symbol mapping of the signal based on aselected starting position or a set of candidate starting positions ofthe signal comprises: determining that a starting position of the DMRSis located at a starting boundary of an OFDM symbol if a candidatestarting position that is the last in the set of candidate startingpositions is located at the starting boundary of the OFDM symbol; anddetermining that a starting position of the DMRS is located at astarting boundary of a first OFDM symbol after the OFDM symbol if acandidate starting position that is the last in the set of candidatestarting positions is not located at the starting boundary of the OFDMsymbol.

In some examples, the DMRS may comprise a plurality of groups of DMRSs,and a starting position of the DMRS is a starting position of a firstgroup of DMRSs that is the earliest in the plurality of groups of DMRSs.In this case, the method shown in FIG. 14 may further comprise:determining positions of other groups of DMRSs in the plurality ofgroups of DMRSs with reference to the starting position of the first setof DMRSs based on an offset between positions of the plurality of groupsof DMRSs.

In some embodiments, the signal may be a PUSCH or a PDSCH, which may bea Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), and determining a symbol mappingof the signal based on a selected starting position or a set ofcandidate starting positions of the signal may comprise: positioning theDMRS within a first complete OFDM symbol after the selected startingposition of the PUSCH, and wherein the starting position of the DMRS islocated after an OFDM symbol in which a Listen Before Talk (LTB)detection succeeds.

In some embodiments, the signal may be a PUSCH or a PDSCH, which may beuplink control information (UCI) or downlink control information (DCI),and determining a symbol mapping of the signal based on a selectedstarting position or a set of candidate starting positions of the signalmay comprise: determining that a starting position of the controlinformation is not earlier than a starting boundary of an OFDM symbol ifa candidate starting position that is the last in the set of candidatestarting positions is located at the starting boundary of the OFDMsymbol; and determining that the starting position of the controlinformation is not earlier than a starting boundary of a first OFDMsymbol after the OFDM symbol if the candidate starting position that isthe last in the set of candidate starting positions is not located atthe starting boundary of the OFDM symbol.

In some examples, if the OFDM symbol including the starting position ofthe control information is occupied by a Demodulation Reference Signal(DMRS), the starting position of the control information may bedetermined to be at a starting boundary of a first OFDM symbol that doesnot include the DMRS after the OFDM symbol that is occupied by the DMRS.

In some examples, if a subcarrier where the OFDM symbol including thestarting position of the control information is located is occupied by aDemodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), the starting position of thecontrol information may be determined to be at a starting point of afirst subcarrier that does not include a DMRS after the subcarrieroccupied by the DMRS.

In some examples, if the DMRS comprises a plurality of groups of DMRSs,the starting position of the control information may be determined to beat a starting position of a first OFDM symbol that does not include theDMRS after an OFDM symbol that is occupied by a first group of DMRSs inthe plurality of groups of DMRSs.

In some examples, determining a symbol mapping of the signal based on aselected starting position or a set of candidate starting positions ofthe signal comprises: determining a starting position of the DMRS and/orcontrol information carried in the signal based on a subcarrier spacingand/or a cyclic prefix used to transmit the signal.

The method comprises an operation S1430 of extracting the signal basedon the symbol mapping.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example flow diagram of an apparatus forreceiving signals in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 15, the apparatus includes a receivingmodule 1510, a symbol mapping determining module 1520, and a signalextracting module 1530. The receiving module 1510 is configured toreceive a signal transmitted from the transmitting party. The symbolmapping determining module 1520 is configured to determine a symbolmapping of the signal based on a selected starting position or a set ofcandidate starting positions of the signal. Signal extraction module1530 is configured to extract the signal based on the symbol mapping.

In some embodiments, the signal may be a Physical Uplink Shared ControlChannel (PUSCH) or a Physical Downlink Shared Control Channel (PDSCH),which may be a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS). In this case, thesymbol mapping determining module 1520 may be further configured todetermine that a starting position of the DMRS is located at a startingboundary of an OFDM symbol if a candidate starting position that is thelast in the set of candidate starting positions is located at thestarting boundary of the OFDM symbol; and determine that a startingposition of the DMRS is located at a starting boundary of a first OFDMsymbol after the OFDM symbol if a candidate starting position that isthe last in the set of candidate starting positions is not located atthe starting boundary of the OFDM symbol.

In some examples, the DMRS may comprise a plurality of groups of DMRSs,and a starting position of the DMRS may be a starting position of afirst group of DMRSs that is the earliest in the plurality of groups ofDMRSs. In this case, the symbol mapping determining module 1520 may befurther configured to determine positions of other groups of DMRSs inthe plurality of groups of DMRSs with reference to the starting positionof the first set of DMRSs based on an offset between positions of theplurality of groups of DMRSs.

In some embodiments, the signal may be a PUSCH or a PDSCH, which may bea Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), and the symbol mappingdetermining module 1520 may be further configured to: determine that theDMRS is located within a first complete OFDM symbol after the selectedstarting position of the PUSCH, and wherein the starting position of theDMRS is located after an OFDM symbol in which a Listen Before Talk (LTB)detection succeeds.

In some embodiments, the signal may be a PUSCH or a PDSCH, which may beuplink control information (UCI) or downlink control information (DCI),and the symbol mapping determining module 1520 may be further configuredto: determine that a starting position of the control information is notearlier than a starting boundary of an OFDM symbol if a candidatestarting position that is the last in the set of candidate startingpositions is located at the starting boundary of the OFDM symbol; anddetermine that the starting position of the control information is notearlier than a starting boundary of a first OFDM symbol after the OFDMsymbol if the candidate starting position that is the last in the set ofcandidate starting positions is not located at the starting boundary ofthe OFDM symbol.

In some examples, if the OFDM symbol including the starting position ofthe control information is occupied by a Demodulation Reference Signal(DMRS), the starting position of the control information may bedetermined to be at a starting boundary of a first OFDM symbol that doesnot include the DMRS after the OFDM symbol that is occupied by the DMRS.

In some examples, if a subcarrier where the OFDM symbol including thestarting position of the control information is located is occupied by aDemodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) the starting position of thecontrol information may be determined to be at a starting point of afirst subcarrier that does not include a DMRS after the subcarrieroccupied by the DMRS.

In some examples, if the DMRS comprises a plurality of groups of DMRSs,the starting position of the control information may be determined to beat a starting position of a first OFDM symbol that does not include theDMRS after an OFDM symbol that is occupied by a first group of DMRSs inthe plurality of groups of DMRSs.

In some examples, symbol mapping determining module 1520 can be furtherconfigured to determine a starting position of the DMRS and/or controlinformation carried in the signal based on a subcarrier spacing and/or acyclic prefix used to transmit the signal.

FIG. 16 schematically illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus 1600in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The apparatus1600 includes a processor 1610, such as a digital signal processor(DSP). The processor 1610 may be a single device or multiple devices forperforming different actions in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention. The apparatus 1600 may also include an input/output(I/O) device 1630 for receiving signals from other entities or fortransmitting signals to other entities.

In addition, the apparatus 1600 includes a memory 1620 that may be inthe form of a non-volatile or volatile memory, such as an electricallyerasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, or thelike. The memory 1620 stores computer readable instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor 1610, cause the processor to perform a methodin accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the methods shown aboveare merely exemplary. The method of the present invention is not limitedto the steps and sequences shown above. The apparatus shown above mayinclude more modules, for example, may also include modules that havebeen developed or developed in the future for base stations or UEs, andthe like. The various identifiers shown above are merely exemplary andnot limiting, and the invention is not limited to specific cellsindicated by such identifiers. Many variations and modifications may bemade by those skilled in the art in light of the teachings of theillustrated embodiments.

It should be understood that the above-described embodiments of thepresent invention may be implemented by software, hardware, or acombination thereof. For example, various components within theapparatus in the above embodiments may be implemented by various devicesincluding, but not limited to, analog circuit devices, digital circuitdevices, digital signal processing (DSP) circuits, programmableprocessors, dedicated Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field ProgrammableGate Arrays (FPGAs), Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs), and others.

In the present application, “base station” refers to a mobilecommunication data and control switching center having a largetransmission power and a relatively large coverage area, includingfunctions such as resource allocation scheduling, data reception andtransmission, and the like. “User equipment” refers to a user mobileterminal, for example, a terminal device including a mobile phone, anotebook, etc., which may perform wireless communication with a basestation or a micro base station.

Moreover, embodiments of the invention disclosed herein may beimplemented on a computer program product. More specifically, thecomputer program product is a computer readable medium encoded withcomputer program logic that, when executed on a computing device,provides related operations to implement the above technical solution ofthe present invention. The computer program logic, when executed on atleast one processor of a computing system, causes the processor toperform the operations (methods) described in the embodiments of thepresent invention. Such an arrangement of the present invention istypically provided as software, code and/or other data structures thatare arranged or encoded on a computer readable medium such as an opticalmedium (e.g., CD-ROM), floppy disk, or hard disk, or other medium suchas firmware or microcode on one or more ROM or RAM or PROM chip, ordownloadable software images, shared databases, etc. in one or moremodules. Software or firmware or such a configuration may be installedon a computing device such that one or more processors in the computingdevice perform the technical solutions described in the embodiments ofthe present invention.

While the invention has been described in terms of the preferredembodiments of the present invention, it will be understood that variousmodification, alternations and changes may be made to the inventionwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore,the present invention should not be limited by the foregoingembodiments, and rather by the appended claims and their equivalents.

1. A method for transmitting a signal, comprising: determining a symbolmapping of the signal based on a selected starting position or a set ofcandidate starting positions of the signal; and transmitting the signalis based on the symbol mapping.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thesignal comprises a Physical Uplink Shared Control Channel (PUSCH) or aPhysical Downlink Shared Control Channel (PDSCH) which carries aDemodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), and wherein determining a symbolmapping of the signal based on a selected starting position or a set ofcandidate starting positions of the signal comprises: determining that astarting position of the DMRS is located at a starting boundary of anOFDM symbol if a candidate starting position that is the last in the setof candidate starting positions is located at the starting boundary ofthe OFDM symbol; and determining that a starting position of the DMRS islocated at a starting boundary of a first OFDM symbol after the OFDMsymbol if a candidate starting position that is the last in the set ofcandidate starting positions is not located at the starting boundary ofthe OFDM symbol.
 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the DMRScomprises a plurality of groups of DMRSs, and a starting position of theDMRS is a starting position of a first group of DMRSs that is theearliest in the plurality of groups of DMRSs, and wherein the methodfurther comprises: determining positions of other groups of DMRSs in theplurality of groups of DMRSs with reference to the starting position ofthe first set of DMRSs based on an offset between positions of theplurality of groups of DMRSs.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein thesignal comprises a Physical Uplink Shared Control Channel (PUSCH) or aPhysical Downlink Shared Control Channel (PDSCH) which carries aDemodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), and wherein determining a symbolmapping of the signal based on a selected starting position or a set ofcandidate starting positions of the signal comprises: positioning theDMRS within a first complete OFDM symbol after the selected startingposition of the PUSCH, and wherein the starting position of the DMRS islocated after an OFDM symbol in which a Listen Before Talk (LTB)detection succeeds.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the signalcomprises a Physical Uplink Shared Control Channel (PUSCH) or a PhysicalDownlink Shared Control Channel (PDSCH) which carries controlinformation, and wherein determining a symbol mapping of the signalbased on a selected starting position or a set of candidate startingpositions of the signal comprises: determining that a starting positionof the control information is not earlier than a starting boundary of anOFDM symbol if a candidate starting position that is the last in the setof candidate starting positions is located at the starting boundary ofthe OFDM symbol; and determining that the starting position of thecontrol information is not earlier than a starting boundary of a firstOFDM symbol after the OFDM symbol if the candidate starting positionthat is the last in the set of candidate starting positions is notlocated at the starting boundary of the OFDM symbol.
 6. The methodaccording to claim 5, wherein if the OFDM symbol including the startingposition of the control information is occupied by a DemodulationReference Signal (DMRS), the starting position of the controlinformation is determined to be at a starting boundary of a first OFDMsymbol that does not include the DMRS after the OFDM symbol that isoccupied by the DMRS.
 7. The method according to claim 5, wherein if asubcarrier where the OFDM symbol including the starting position of thecontrol information is located is occupied by a Demodulation ReferenceSignal (DMRS), the starting position of the control information isdetermined to avoid the subcarrier occupied by the DMRS.
 8. The methodof claim 6, wherein if the DMRS comprises a plurality of groups ofDMRSs, the starting position of the control information is determined tobe at a starting position of a first OFDM symbol that does not includethe DMRS after an OFDM symbol that is occupied by a first group of DMRSsin the plurality of groups of DMRSs.
 9. The method according to claim 1,wherein determining a symbol mapping of the signal based on a selectedstarting position or a set of candidate starting positions of the signalcomprises: determining a starting position of the DMRS and/or controlinformation carried in the signal based on a subcarrier spacing and/or acyclic prefix used to transmit the signal.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein the signal comprises a Physical Uplink Shared Control Channel(PUSCH) or a Physical Downlink Shared Control Channel (PDSCH), andwherein the method comprises: mapping the PUSCH to a scheduled slot; anddropping a portion of the PUSCH that is not mapped to the scheduled slotif the length of the PUSCH exceeds the number of symbols remaining inthe scheduled slot.
 11. A method for transmitting a signal, comprising:performing a Listen Before Talk (LBT) detection on each of a pluralityof subbands for transmitting the signal, respectively; mapping bits on aPhysical Uplink Shared Control Channel (PUSCH) and a Physical DownlinkShared Control Channel (PDSCH) corresponding to subbands on which theLBT detection is successfully performed to the subbands on which the LBTdetection is successfully performed.
 12. The method of claim 11, whereinbits of one coding block are mapped in one subband, or bits of onecoding block group are mapped in one subband.
 13. The method of claim11, further comprising: indicating to a receiving party the subband fortransmitting the signal.
 14. An apparatus for transmitting a signal,comprising: a symbol mapping determining module configured to determinea symbol mapping of the signal based on a selected starting position ora set of candidate starting positions of the signal; and a transmittingmodule configured to transmit the signal based on the symbol mapping.15. An apparatus for transmitting a signal, comprising: an LBT detectingmodule configured to perform a Listen Before Talk (LBT) detection oneach of a plurality of subbands for transmitting the signal,respectively; a bit mapping module is configured to map bits on aPhysical Uplink Shared Control Channel (PUSCH) and a Physical DownlinkShared Control Channel (PDSCH) corresponding to subbands on which theLBT detection is successfully performed to the subbands on which the LBTdetection is successfully performed.